Hahlorkh Siannodel
Hahlorkh was the love child of Shelileh Siannodel and a traveling merchant who sold wares in Mitilos. When he was born, Hahlorkh was recognized as half-human and received his name in a wrathful fury, which is elvish for "brute". Shelileh was shamed and exiled from the city. Shelileh traveled north and began living off the land and raising Hahlorkh in the wilderness. The forest is an unforgiving place and Hahlorkh learned many hard lessons about the wilds in his early years. When Hahlorkh was seven, zombies began encroaching on the forest and made foraging difficult. Though Shelileh began thinning out the numbers, the zombie horde continued to grow and food quickly dwindled. The forest, which became known as the Blighted Lands, became too uninhabitable and Shelileh and Hahlorkh were forced to evacuate. While making preparations, Shelileh got clumsy and attracted the attention of zombies before the journey had even begun. Hahlorkh cowered in a tree paralyzed by fear hoping his mother would find a way to escape. She broke away from the zombies and fled out of Hahlorkh's sight, giving him hope that she had escaped and would return to their shelter after nightfall. Days passed with no sign of Shelileh and Hahlorkh was too afraid to leave for fear of what may happen to him or what he may find. But once his food stores were expended, he had no choice but to venture into the wilderness in search of food. He made the foolhardy decision of going in the same direction he saw his mother run hoping to find some sign of her. Tracking her should be easy since she had the only set of footprints that was running, fleeing for safety. But fearfully cowering in the house for so long made this a fruitless endeavor; the zombies had trampled any chance Hahlorkh would have had of finding her. He was forced to retreat to the house and consider his options. With the realization that he didn't know of any nearby settlements or even roads, Hahlorkh knew he had only one option. Stay and fight to live. He became adept at foraging for food and being aware of his natural (and unnatural) threats. He even began to predict where the hordes would travel so he take advantage of the prey scared by the hordes movement. But this strategy lead to disaster when Hahlorkh found a pack of zombies with an unexpected attendee, his mother. Enraged by the sight of his mother becoming undead, Hahlorkh did something very stupid. He attacks the pack head-on throwing caution to the wind. The rest of the encounter was an out-of-body experience, driven by only animal instinct and the climax of a burning hope that had been snuffed out. When he came to his senses, he was laying in the crook of Shelileh's arm with her throat ripped clean out and surrounded by four other zombies with entrails ripped out and other confusing wounds considering his only weapon was a sling and some rocks. *His mouth tasted of iron and he had a full belly for the first time in as long as he could remember.* After this day, Hahlorkh dedicated himself to purging any undead that dared step foot in his sanctuary and he no longer lived in fear. As zombies mimiced an unstoppable force of nature, destroying all they touched, so too could Hahlorkh. He began living as a hermit in truth and stayed at his shelter, his grove, long past when he knew how to find civilization. For years, Hahlorkh lived this way until one fateful encounter with a group of adventurers. The Blighted Lands were a land not often traveled so Hahlorkh took particular interest when he saw this group marching along. Curious about what destination they could have so far from any town or city, he began stalking them. They were heading deeper into the Blighted Lands and weren't making any attempt at stealth. It was a miracle they hadn't been overrun already. But of course as soon as that thought came to Hahlorkh, he noticed they were walking directly over a crest into a horde of zombies. This area was too thoroughly infested for Hahlorkh to fight alone and he had always steered well clear of it but maybe with four others, they could wipe out this infestation of putrid undeath. Hahlorkh stretched his shoulders, bent down to stand on all fours and joined the adventurers as they entered combat. The first wave was dispatched easily enough but the tide seemed to turn quickly for some unknown reason. The zombies made coordinated attacks and worked to surround and overwhelm the party. Worse still, they seemed to be working to separate Hahlorkh from the group of adventurers, what? Could they know just how many of their kind he had killed? Did they seek vengeance for all their fallen comrades? Survival instincts flared up and Hahlorkh scanned the treelines for climbing points or paths he might be able to weave through to retreat but it was no use. His escape had been cut off and all that was left to do was see how many zombies he could take with him. He assumed a defensive stance and looked for openings to exploit, there would be a time for animalistic rage when they were closer, backed into a corner, but that recklessness could cost him dearly if he made a silly mistake before his hand was forced. Then in an immediate contradiction to that thought, one of the adventurers came bursting through the line of zombies screaming bloody murder. He spun a great axe like a blossom of death cleaving through several zombies and was covered from head to toe in blood. He was a grim sight with tusks protruding from his lower jawline and no clothing on above his waistline. Was this what it was like to grow up in society? Shelileh had always said men couldn't be trusted, said they betray those closest to them and look after only themselves, but this man spoke the truth of that lie. Wasting no time to think on it further, Hahlorkh leapt through the escape path forged by this bloody monstrosity only turning around to hamstring the pursuers that were still shambling towards them. After they had successfully disengaged the threat, Hahlorkh was confused to find all of this mans companions had left. This stranger sat down completely unconcerned that he had been abandoned by his own allies, almost like he had expected it. Not the first time, then? Maybe Shelileh wasn't far off after all. Hahlorkh was startled from his reverie when the man reached to scratch behind his ear and said,"Looks like this is going to be my last fight, pup. Glad I finally got to return the favor to the only ones who ever showed me any kindness, heh. Hope you live a less wretched life than mine." Not all of the blood was the zombies then, this man needed medical supplies from the grove and he needed them fast. Hahlorkh transformed back to human form to use some field supplies he'd brought. Was it too late already? "Please come with me, you need medicine and rest". The man looked confused but asked no questions, he stood to his feet and with a quizzical look on his face, began to walk. Upon reaching the grove, Hahlorkh turns to the strange and introduced himself,"You can call me Hal". In response, this new companion collapsed face first on the floor unconscious. When he woke three days later, Rhak was looking much better and was happy to return the introduction. Hal and Rhak discussed their life stories and became friends, or what Hal could have guessed friends were. When Rhak was ready to travel again he urged Hal to join him. It wasn't a hard decision, there was nothing left for him here, maybe never was. As they walked away from his shack, Hal spared one final glance over his shoulder at the place he'd lived his whole life. The last of the grass that was surrounding his small shed seemed to wilt as they walked away. Character Sheet: https://www.dndbeyond.com/profile/Azyzut/characters/19801421